1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to structures for storing works of art such as paintings in the reserve collections of museums.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Museums generally have an exhibition part in which some works of art are displayed, and a reserve collection part in which a large number of works are stored between the periods in which they are exhibited.
The works of art stored in the reserve collections must remain accessible so that they can be viewed from a sufficient distance to enable museum staff to prepare future exhibitions by choosing appropriate works.
To reduce the structure cost of museum reserve collections, it is beneficial to maximize the number of works that can be stored in a reserve collection of given area, whilst guaranteeing good accessibility and a sufficient viewing distance to gauge the works in storage.
At present, works of art like paintings are stored on various structures. A first prior art solution consists of storing the works on the walls of a reserve collection room, possibly with an intermediate partition on which works are also placed. With this solution, if a room approximately five by five meters is available, the area available to receive the works is approximately 69 square meters.
A second prior art solution is described in the document EP 0 600 506 A, for the same size five by five meter reserve collection storeroom, and entails storing the works on suspended grids disposed in a row of parallel vertical grids each of which can be moved in horizontal translation in its plane, with a supporting wheel at the bottom. In this way a selected grid can be moved to examine the works that it carries. This increases the available area for receiving works.
In a third prior art solution, the grids are also disposed in a row of parallel vertical grids but, instead of being movable in their own plane, can be moved perpendicularly to their plane, on mobile carriages. Both faces of the grids can then be used to store works of art and this increases the available area to approximately 144 square meters, again in a five by five meter reserve collection storeroom.
In a different technical art, the document U.S. Pat. No. 1,688,255 A describes a display unit for screens, doors and windows. The screens, doors or windows are fixed by clamps to bottom horizontal beams and to parallel hinge pins of a structure with transverse bars fixed to a building. The structure is not auto-stable, and is not suitable for storing objects such as works of art. In particular it is not possible to hang paintings on a structure of this kind by conventional hanging means on their rear face or to guarantee their integrity.
The document EP 0 599 112 A describes a display unit for ceramic tiles, including a frame with uprights, crossmembers, and a rectangular base, and tile support panels mounted to rotate through 360xc2x0 between top and bottom beams themselves pivoted to the frame. A device of this kind is complex because of the frame with its base, pivoting beams and means for hinging the panels, and is not suitable for supporting works of art because there is a high risk of impacts between a pivoting panel and objects secured to adjacent panels.
One problem addressed by the present invention is that of further increasing the area available for storing works of art in the reserve collections of museums, whilst providing access to the works and a sufficient viewing distance for examining them, without necessitating or allowing manipulations entailing the risk of damaging the works. The storage structure must be stable and self-contained, must not necessitate any fixing to a building, and must be capable of being folded into a compact folded configuration.
Another object of the invention is to design a storage structure of the above kind that is particularly reliable, simple and inexpensive, in order to reduce further the cost of installing and using the structure.
A subsidiary object of the invention is to provide better protection of works of art suspended from the storage structure. They must in particular be protected against various types of hazard, including impacts, vibrations, dust, moisture and running water.
Another subsidiary object of the present invention is to provide the facility to adjust the hinged panels to receive thinner or thicker objects without risk of contact or impact with the objects on adjacent panels. The adjustment must use simple tools such as a wrench and no modification of the components.
To achieve the above and other objects, a storage structure in accordance with the invention includes hinged generally rectangular panels adapted to receive and support objects, such as works of art, the structure being such as:
the panels are organized into at least one first group of generally rectangular panels oriented vertically and having panels that are each hinged directly about a respective hinge pin in the vicinity of a first vertical edge to a common connecting structure to pivot approximately 90xc2x0 between two limit orientations,
respective hinge pins of consecutive hinged panels are offset laterally on the common connecting structure by a distance chosen to allow the panels to rotate between the limit orientations without objects that they carry touching each other, and
at least some panels include, on their bottom horizontal edge, a support means at a distance from the hinge pin of the panel and adapted to bear on a floor and thereby stabilize the structure as a whole on the floor.
In a first embodiment, each hinged panel includes a rolling member constituting support means and adapted to roll on the floor in a rolling area with a smooth surface.
In one simple and effective embodiment, one of the end panels is fixed, permanently oriented in the first limit orientation at approximately 45xc2x0 to the common connecting structure, and rests permanently on the floor. The other panels are hinged.
In one advantageous embodiment, suitable for smaller sizes, the intermediate hinged panels have no rolling members, and are supported only by their respective hinge pins, on which they pivot. This reduces vibrations caused by rolling on the floor, which offers better protection to the works of art. However, it is then preferable for the size of the structure to be relatively small, to limit the weight supported by each bearing point on the floor.
Additional protection against vibrations and impacts can be provided by damped actuators adapted to pivot each hinged panel smoothly and gently to either of its limit orientations from a median orientation that is generally perpendicular to the common connecting structure. The user can therefore let go of the hinged panel as soon as it has passed beyond the median orientation, whereupon the hinged panel returns to its chosen limit orientation of its own accord with a slow and damped movement.
In one particular embodiment, the end panels are advantageously solid, constituting covering walls for enclosing all of the intermediate panels when the structure is in a folded configuration. This improves the protection of the works of art against dust and other external pollutants.
In a first embodiment, the storage structure includes panels comprising one or more rigid rectangular frames each of which surrounds and retains a grid. Works can therefore be fixed to the grid, at any required location, by fixing means such as hooks or ligatures.
An advantageous variant of this embodiment replaces the grid with parallel laths retained by the uprights of the panel frame. The laths can be made of aluminum, for example, and incorporate perforations enabling the use of various systems for attaching works of art. One benefit of this is that the laths are easier to install and assemble in small places intended to contain the storage structure.
An advantageous embodiment replaces the grid with one or more perforated and corrugated plates held by the uprights and crossmembers of the panel frame. One benefit of this is that works of art can be attached to both faces of the panel without the attachment means interfering with the other face.
In another embodiment, the storage structure includes panels consisting of a rectangular frame surrounding and retaining horizontal shelves. Objects can then be placed on the shelves.
Each hinged panel is preferably mounted on the common connecting structure by means of top and bottom pivots, passing through respective top and bottom holes in the panel, with at least one of the pivots removably attached to the common connecting structure.
It may be beneficial to provide means for preventing objects stored on the panels touching each other during pivoting movements of the hinged panels. To this end, the upper or peripheral areas of the panels can advantageously include, away from the hinge pins, abutment means to guarantee a sufficient distance between consecutive panels to prevent contact between the objects they carry.
In a folded configuration, the peripheral frames of consecutive panels are preferably contiguous, possibly with combined buffers and seals between them. The frames of the panels then constitute a dustproof surround which protects the works contained within the structure. The walls of the end frames are then sealed, or at least dustproof, and permeable to air, for example being made from Gore-Tex(copyright) distributed fiber fabric.
To adjust the thickness available for the works secured to a panel, the vertical uprights of the panel frame can have parallel profiles defining successive or movable housings which can receive the perforated plates or the laths or grid constituting the central structure of the panel so that the user can choose the position of the central structure to define a thinner or thicker free space on respective opposite faces of the panel to receive objects.
The common connecting structure to which the panels are hinged can advantageously include a generally rectangular frame with two uprights connected by two crossmembers with the crossmembers receiving the hinge means of the panels and the common connecting structure resting on the floor on height adjusting means such as two screw-jacks. This assures the smoothest possible movement of the hinged panels and makes the structure more stable.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will emerge from the following description of particular embodiments, which description is given with reference to the accompanying drawings.